The Lady From Shanghai – what happened? part 4

BACK ON?13 December 2007Interview with Wong Kar-wai with LondonNet: What can you tell us about Lady From Shanghai, the film you’re doing with Nicole Kidman?WKW: Well, we’re working on the script. We have ideas. Normally I will build a story around one character and I think it will be interesting to have Nicole Kidman play it as a woman who claims she came from Shanghai, and it’s very mysterious. This will be the next one and Grand Master will be the one after because Tony needs some time to practice all these martial arts skills.http://www.londonnet.co.uk/cinema/interviews/cinema_wongkarwai.html

1 April 2008Interview with Wong Kar-wai for The Diva Review:MG: “And what is coming up after My Blueberry Nights?WKW: Actually, we are working on two projects at this point. One is called The Grandmaster, which is with Tony to play the master of Bruce Lee…MG: Yip Man?WKW: Yeah! And the other one is The Lady from Shanghai.MG: Will that actually be made in Shanghai?WKW: The original idea is to shot the most part of it in Shanghai, a part of it here and in Russia.MG: Is there a cast for that yet? WKW: It’s with Nicole Kidman. www.thedivareview.com/My_Blueberry_Nights_Wong_Kar-Wai_Interview.html

16 April 2008Interview with Wong Kar-wai for Ain’t It Cool News:Where are you right now with THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. Where is that?WKW: We are still working on this project. And, we have to work up a schedule with Nicole [Kidman]. And at the same time, we are also working on several projects at this point, projects like THE GRAND MASTER, which is the story about the teacher of Bruce Lee.So, Nicole Kidman’s still planning on doing LADY FROM SHANGHAI?WKW: Yes, this is my idea to have Nicole play this character. Like MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS with Norah: she is the reason I wanted to start this project.Obviously, this isn’t a remake of the Orson Welles’ film.WKW: [laughs] No, no, it’s not. The story is about the woman who…It’s a spy story. It took place in the ’20s, from Russia to China and then back in the United States.http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36413

SUMMARY:Nicole Kidman is attached to play the title role.Takeshi Kitano rumoured to play the “bad guy”. (FALSE)Gong Li rumoured to co-star in film. (FALSE)Tony Leung rumoured to play the male lead. (FALSE, allegedly too short compared to Nicole Kidman)Chang Chen rumoured to play the male lead. (FALSE)Rachel Weisz rumoured to co-star in the film. (FALSE, misreporting as she starred in “My Blueberry Nights” instead)“The Lady From Shanghai” is postponed until after the completion of “My Blueberry Nights”.Nicole Kidman drops out of the film to support her husband who’s going through rehab.Hugh Jackman rumoured to play male lead. (FALSE, but admitted he would be interested)“The Lady From Shanghai” is shelved once again as WKW decides to make “The Grand Master” instead.

The chief problems seem to be:scheduling conflicts of both WKW and Nicole; the amount of time it will take to film and the filming in China are unfavourable to Nicole;WKW’s inability to find a male lead to act opposite Nicole;WKW will only make this film if Nicole acts in it.